Badger residents flee as wildfire approaches community, infrastructure
CBC
Residents of Badger, N.L. are fleeing the community as smoke from a nearby wildfire clouds the air, and waterbombers pass overhead every few minutes.
"It is scary, yeah," said Joe Roberts, who was gassing up his vehicle at a local service station before heading to Grand Falls-Windsor, about 30 kilometres east on the Trans-Canada Highway.
"It's so unpredictable, you never know what's going to happen now," said Roberts of the wind.
He's one of the roughly 500 people in Badger who've been ordered to flee by the provincial government.
The evacuation notice came just a few hours before, after the forest fire — burning about four kilometres from Badger — grew to between 500 and 600 hectares, threatening both the town and nearby infrastructure.
"Nobody should refuse to leave," said Premier John Hogan. "We're not making this evacuation order lightly. It's for people's health, it's people's livelihoods, it's people's lives. This is a very serious, serious situation."
Speaking during a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Hogan said government made the decision to order the evacuation just a few minutes before speaking with reporters.
Hogan said people should head to Grand Falls-Windsor, where they can stay at the Joe Byrne Arena.
He said the province will have transportation available for anyone who needs it.
Jamie Chippett, a deputy minister with the forestry department, said it's not safe for ground crews right now, but they have three waterbombers and two helicopters able to fight the fire from the air.
Hogan said the fire has grown to between 500 and 600 hectares since the last update.
"We thought there might be a little window to make this decision a little bit later in the day, but we certainly felt it's better to be safe than sorry and make sure we move these people as soon as possible," he said.
The province's decision to order an evacuation comes just a few hours after the town's council told residents they need to be ready to leave their homes at a moment's notice.
The fire started near the community following a lightning storm in the area Tuesday afternoon.
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